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<title>Spellbinder - Chapter 34</title>
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<h1>34</h1>
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<p>The sound of horses hooves and clanking armour told them Dermott had arrived; it was still before dawn and the sky was murky and black.</p>
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<p>Hedda came stalking into the camp and sat down beside the fire, scaled armour glinting in the firelight and braids coiled like scarlet snakes. </p>
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<p>"Dermott has come in force," she said softly. "It seems he really wants the harp."</p>
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<p>Using the sharp point, she drew on the ground. "This is the slope where we are," she said. "Dermott has brigades round to the north, the east and west, and more men are coming. They will block the south and encircle us."</p>
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<p>"How many?" Kerry asked.</p>
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<p>"Enough for him to think he has us in his hand," she said, showing no emotion except a hint of exhilaration, or perhaps expectation. "Dermott himself never came to my island to challenge me. While he thinks he has might, he knows little of war."</p>
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<p>"Neither do we," Connor said. "I've been a poacher all my life."</p>
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<p>He swung three smooth stones that he'd tied together from lengths of cord. They clacked in the cold air.</p>
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<p>"They will come at first light," Hedda said. "On the west side, horses and men. On the east, archers. On the north, foot-soldiers. They will expect us to run, try to escape between them, so they will be ready for that."</p>
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<p>She smiled. In the firelight it made her seem even fiercer. "They will not expect us to take the fight to them."</p>
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<p>The ground shuddered and Finn and Fennel came looming through the ring of wagons.</p>
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<p>"After today," Hedda said, "I will no longer need an armourer. Finn, I think, needs one more than I do."</p>
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<p>"And what will you do for everything else?" Fennel demanded. "And that old Gerumbel Mountain of Finn's, it's not hot enough to turn a blade pink. No, I believe I will return home with you to the misty isle and my forge. Finn says he's tired of the headland and wants to try a new fishing ground."</p>
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<p>"He's ever welcome," Hedda said, smiling. </p>
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<p>"And anyway, I need a strong pair of hands to help haul the boat up to the launch," Fennel said. Finn grinned like a big happy child. Jack hoped he would still be grinning when the day was done.</p>
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<p>Fennel hauled her big pannier towards her and delved inside, bringing out a bundle tied in a leather hide. She unrolled it and passed something over to Jack.</p>
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<p>"This a gift from the Lady Hedda and myself." He held it up and saw it was a scaled tunic like Hedda's. It gleamed iridescent.</p>
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<p>"Kelpie hide," Fennel said. "An orc-whale can't bite through it."</p>
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<p>There was one for each of them and they were grateful to have them, especially after hearing about the companies of archers who surrounded them. Corriwen slipped hers on and drew her cape over it. With her knives and red hair she looked like a miniature Hedda, and for an instant Jack felt his heart beating faster. He looked away quickly before she noticed.</p>
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<p>Connor and Kerry donned their tunics and Fennel brought something else out, pulled Connor close and tied it in place. When Connor turned they saw she had set his old brass pin-broach in a braided leather head-band. With his hair flowing down his shoulders, and the five-starred brooch now polished and gleaming like gold, he now so different from the ragged boy in the forest.</p>
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<p>"Good style," Kerry said, nudging him with an elbow. "You can come to our next Halloween party."</p>
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<p>Brand and his troupe wandered in from his wagon, Rune at their side. Score Four-arm had a thick leather jacket studded with horn plates and in each big hand he carried a curved sword.</p>
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<p>"Looks like a combine harvester," Kerry observed.</p>
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<p>Tig and Tag wore no armour, but Natterjack came bumbling along, wearing what looked like a turtle-shell strapped to his broad flat head.</p>
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<p>"And <em>he</em> looks like a toad-stool," Connor said and everybody laughed.</p>
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<p>"Everything in place?" Hedda asked Finn and the giant nodded.</p>
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<p>"We've worked through the night. There's a surprise waiting for them."</p>
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<p>He pointed to the little knoll where the horses were scraping for grass beside a mound of boulders that hadn't been there before, piled twice as tall as a man. Close by, thick spruce trunks, spiked with dead branch stumps, were stacked together. Finn and Fennel had worked hard while Jack and his friends had slept. Neither looked the least bit tired.</p>
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<p>"More than one surprise, I promise," Hedda said, as the day lightened and finally they got a glimpse of the mass of men approaching not half a mile distant. Far beyond them, where Wolfen castle hunched by the sea, lightning flickered and forked and thunder rumbled.</p>
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<p>Jack got to his feet and surveyed the land. They were partially protected by a grove of trees. He looked behind, towards the way they had come, out of the mist and through a valley, and his first thought was that they should head back in that direction. Fast. There were just too many men out there, and too few of them here. One fighting woman and two giants, plus a collection of weird circus performers, a girl and three boys.</p>
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<p>It didn't look good.</p>
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<p>Then as he was turning back, Jack saw something out of the corner of his eye.</p>
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<p>In the gulley where they had come through the mist, a low pale line was brighter than the surrounding area.</p>
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<p>As he watched, it seemed to writhe towards them. At first he thought he had imagined it and looked away, but when he turned back again, the line had covered more ground. It meandered out of the gulley, rolling slowly like a carpet, then turned away from them.</p>
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<p>"What <em>is</em> that?" Jack said to no one in particular.</p>
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<p>Corriwen came beside him and followed his gaze.</p>
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<p>"More mist? Or is it something Fainn has conjured?"</p>
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<p>Hedda noticed and stood. She beckoned to Rune.</p>
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<p>It looked like a river, slowly flowing from the gulley, following the contours like water finding its way.</p>
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<p>Jack recalled the whispering voice of the harp.</p>
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<p class="centered"><em>To Voyage on in Shadowland.</em></p>
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<p class="centered"><em>Travel where the white road wends</em></p>
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<p>"It's the White Road," he whispered. "<em>Brave of heart and steel of will, ever on to Tara Hill.</em></p>
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<p>"But where <em>is</em> Tara Hill?" There was no hill near here, except for the low rolling downs.</p>
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<p>"Travel where the white road wends," Rune said. </p>
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<p>"I don't understand this," Jack protested. "There <em>is</em> no hill."</p>
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<p>Hedda nodded. "Time to follow the road, Jack Flint."</p>
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<p>She beckoned to Fennel, who strode across with a leather wrapping and unfurled it. Hedda held up the great wooden mace.</p>
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<p>"The Dagda's Oaken Club," she said. "One of the three treasures. You carry another Journeyman."</p>
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<p>She raised it for them to see and Jack did a double take. The skull had leered at them the first time they had seen it, sockets hollow and dark, teeth clenched. But now eyes as red as fire blazed from the hollows and the mouth was wide open, showing rows of fearsome fangs.</p>
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<p>"It hungers for battle," Hedda said. She gripped Jack's shoulder. You and Kerry, both have speed and you have the finest of swords. Connor is the one to bear the Dagda's club in this fight."</p>
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<p>She touched Connor's forehead. "Bear this bravely, Eirinn's heir. Now take the Harp home."</p>
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<p>She embraced Kerry and Corriwen.</p>
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<p>"Now's the day and now's the hour. Be fast and fleet."</p>
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<p>Hedda took Jack's face between powerful hands and bent to kiss him on the forehead. He felt her warmth and suddenly wanted to hug her tightly.</p>
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<p>"Jack Flint, Cullian's son." There was a slight catch in her voice. "Your quest is almost done here. The Sky Queen grants a favour to those who would do her work. Do not forget that."</p>
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<p>She kissed him again and once more he thought he saw a glint of a tear in her eye.</p>
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<p>"Now take the white road, wherever it leads."</p>
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<p>Jack shouldered Brand's bag with the harp safely inside, then strung his amberhorn bow before they headed out towards where the pale ribbon snaked down the hill. From the west, a trumpet sounded and a drum rolled, and a squadron of horsemen came galloping towards them. </p>
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<p>Hedda reached for her mask, clamped it on and stood tall. Her weapons bristled on her armour and her hair swung every time she moved. On the ends of each long braid was bound a spiked ball like a mace-head.</p>
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<p>"Let's take the fight to them," she said. </p>
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<p>Score smiled a savage, hungry smile and whirled his blades so that they whistled in the air. "Now that sounds like a fine plan to me."</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>Dermott had gathered his men and marched almost as soon as Fainn told him the harp was on its way. </p>
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<p>"But there is something more besides," Fainn had told him.</p>
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<p>"Anything important?"</p>
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<p>"They are not alone," Fainn said, "and I sense destiny at hand. And the return of one seeking vengeance and birthright. There is a force coming together that bodes ill."</p>
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<p>"You've been boding ill as long as I recall," Dermott snapped. "I'm not giving up this chance. The whole of Eirinn will be in my hand."</p>
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<p>He clenched a mighty fist, as if demonstrating how Eirinn would fare once it <em>was</em> in his hand.</p>
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<p>"We ride out," Dermott growled.</p>
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<p>"I will remain and ponder," Fainn said. "Perhaps I can fathom what moves against us."</p>
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<p>"Nothing I can't crush," Dermott said. "Stay and chant for all you're worth, Spellbinder. I'll be busy letting blood and getting my harp back."</p>
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<p>With that he turned and moments later he sallied out of Wolfen Castle at the head of an armed column.</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>Jack and the others were halfway to the winding pale road when the horsemen came charging towards them. </p>
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<p>"We're going to have to run for it," Kerry said. "We might make it, but Corriwen and Connor, they're not fast enough."</p>
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<p>Jack kept walking, expecting Hedda or the two giants to move to cut off the squad, but they just stood silently. He turned to the white road and saw that it was a continuation of the mist through which they had travelled, but now a low haze, no more than a foot high, and so even at its edges that it could have been a well-laid carpet. It continued down the slope towards the flat land. If it was heading for Tara Hill, they would have a long walk ahead of them, he thought.</p>
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<p>And the horsemen were closer, spurring their mounts, and drawing swords.</p>
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<p>"I don't like the look of this," Kerry said. "Why doesn't Hedda move."</p>
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<p>"Hold! Thieves!" a man shouted, close enough to be heard. He raised his sword high, standing up in the stirrups.</p>
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<p>Then, quick as a blink, man and horse vanished. </p>
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<p>Behind them, the rest of the cavalry, hurtling at full gallop followed in tight formation.</p>
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<p>The ground beneath the hooves just fell away as a deep pit opened under them.</p>
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<p>Jack heard their shouts of surprise and sudden fright as the horses plunged headlong, and then they saw the thin branches that had been laid across the trench and disguised with leaves and dry grass.</p>
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<p>Now Jack knew where the mound of stones had come from. Fennel and Finn had been even busier than he had thought.</p>
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<p>The cavalry troop couldn't stop, so tightly bunched were they, that every one of them plunged over the lip of the pit and the screams of hurt and broken men and horses tore the air.</p>
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<p>"Come on," Jack urged them. "They've bought us some time."</p>
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<p>"She wasn't kidding about the surprise," Kerry whooped. "That had to hurt!"</p>
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<p>The white road rolled downslope, gathering speed. They reached it and waded into the mist to follow wherever it led.</p>
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<p>In the pit, one man clambered out, limping badly, and dragged himself back to the line. None of his fellow riders managed to get out.</p>
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<p>The four walked on for another quarter-mile, when another blare of trumpets sounded, and a mass of archers wheeled towards them.</p>
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<p>Then Hedda started down the hill, with Score Four-arm beside her. Jack saw Finn and Fennel tramp up to the great pile of boulders and he turned, walking backwards, to watch.</p>
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<p>Hedda's ferocious mask made her look like a demon as she raced downhill at blinding speed, taking the company of archers by surprise. She crossed five hundred yards so fast that Score was only half-way there when she crashed into the archers, both swords whirling .</p>
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<p>It was as if they had been hit by a tank. Jack saw the lead archer turn and see a monster bearing down on him. He didn't even have time to draw the arrow back before she was past him and he was falling to one side while his arm and longbow went spinning off to the other. </p>
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<p>Then all hell broke out. </p>
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<p>The screams came clear on the air as she darted in and out, a ferocious red streak. Her head swung and the spikes at the ends of her long braids clawed and battered the bewildered, terrified bowmen who had no chance of even sighting on a target who moved so fast.</p>
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<p>"What a mover!" Kerry murmured in unashamed admiration.</p>
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<p>Tig and Tag came somersaulting down the slope, back to back, one nimble creature. They held only a long stave each as they spun towards the milling foot soldiers who were taken completely by surprise. One of them dashed forward, swinging a broadsword in two hands.</p>
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<p>The acrobats flicked apart in an instant. The sword clove fresh air, jammed point first into the cold ground. Tig's foot caught the man on the chin and they heard the crack of bone as his head snapped back and he dropped like a sack. Tag peeled away, jammed one end of the long stave in a tussock and next thing she was up at its top end, above head-height. A thin blade appeared in her hand as she spun round the upright pole and razored a swathe around herself, carving a neat circle of falling men.</p>
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<p>Somebody roared from behind the gathered army and another company of horse came angling towards where Jack and the others had inadvertently slowed down, fascinated by the action.</p>
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<p>"<em>Uh-oh!</em>" Kerry tapped Jack's shoulder. "I think this is where we start to run."</p>
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<p>"No." Jack unshipped the bow and had an arrow strung before he even realised it. "This is where we <em>fight</em>."</p>
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<p>He shrugged off the bag and handed it to Corriwen.</p>
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<p>"We can hold them a while," he said. "Follow the road. Keep the harp safe."</p>
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<p>"I stand with you," she said resolutely. He shook his head.</p>
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<p>"We'll catch up. I promise. Now go!"</p>
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<p>Connor needed no second bidding. He snatched at her cape and pulled her away.</p>
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<p>"You up for this?" Jack asked Kerry.</p>
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<p>"We beat the Fell Runners, didn't we?"</p>
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<p>The cavalry came charging. Jack scanned the ground, hoping for another pit, but saw no evidence. One of the riders unleashed an arrow from the cavalry flank. Kerry blurted a warning, a second too late, and Jack took the full force of it in the centre of the chest. It hit hard enough to knock him down.</p>
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<p>Kerry yelled in rage. Jack landed on his backside and bounced to his feet. The arrow fell to the ground in three shattered pieces. There wasn't even a mark on the scaly armour.</p>
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<p>"Phew!" Kerry gasped. "Thought they had you."</p>
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<p>"Me too," Jack gasped. "Good old kelpie skin."</p>
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<p>Jack drew back and took the lead rider clean in the neck. He tumbled backwards and his sword flew up and came down blade first some way behind the riderless horse. A man screeched and fell, stabbed clean through the shoulder.</p>
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<p>Two more black arrows found their mark and then the riders were on them. Somebody swung a long sword. Kerry moved like lightning. He flicked away, turned like a hare and jabbed, once, twice. The new blade went in and out like a hot knife through lard. </p>
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<p>Jack was on the far side now, running in a circle round the group who bunched together in a melee, trying to find a target. He fired three more, running all the while, then drew the Redthorn sword's twin. The horses turned, hooves flashing, trying to stamp them flat, and began to circle them. Jack and Kerry leapt back before they were outflanked. A sword came down and Jack parried it with his own blade, the shock riving up his shoulder, but the soldier's sword broke itself on Hedda's fine-forged steel and scattered shards like shrapnel. </p>
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<p>There were too many of them. Jack and Kerry were forced back, away from the white road, desperately hacking and parrying as twenty or more cavalrymen tried to ride them down.</p>
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<p>Despite their speed, they were being driven towards Dermott's main force when an almighty snarl ripped the air and suddenly riders and horses were scattering in panic</p>
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<p>Jack rolled out of the way of one panicked horse, hit to his knees beside Kerry and saw Connor in the middle of the horsemen. In his hands, the great club was swinging and as it swung, Jack saw the mouth open in a savage gape and a hoarse voice roared:</p>
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<p class="centered"><em>Feed me flesh, feed me BONE!</em></p>
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<p>Connor was swinging like a boy possessed, as the mighty club roared its battle-cry and men flew out of the saddle and bones crunched like sticks. In a matter of seconds, the tide turned and the ones left in the saddle fled for their lives.</p>
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<p>The great club swung one last time and the savage mouth, dripping with blood, closed with a snap. Only now instead of a snarl, it had a vicious grin on its face, as if it was satisfied with its work.</p>
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<p>"That was absolutely brilliant," Kerry cried. "I never saw anything like it."</p>
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<p>Connor caught his breath. "I never even thought. The club…it <em>pulled</em> me back to help. It wanted to fight."</p>
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<p>"I heard it," Kerry said. "It was going pure mental."</p>
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<p>"Just as well for us." Jack wiped his blade on a fallen man's tunic, not looking at the dead face, and re-sheathed the sword, suddenly struck by the realisation that these were the first humans he had ever had to fight.</p>
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<p>Kerry grabbed him by the arm and gave him a shake. He could read Jack like a book.</p>
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<p>"Come on man," he cried. "It was them or us. You think <em>they</em> would worry?"</p>
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<p>Even then, Jack felt as if he'd swallowed something heavy. It would haunt him a long time.</p>
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<p>Kerry turned him round. "Look. Corriwen's in the clear. We'd better get going."</p>
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<p>Jack turned silently and followed Kerry and Connor away from the pile of men.</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>Score came charging up to where Hedda was scything men down left and right. He had a curved blade in each hand and followed her into the melee. Kerry's description had been spot on. He was like a reaper at harvest-time, but now he was harvesting men. </p>
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<p>Dermott the Wolf stood on a little knoll viewing the carnage. He was quivering with rage. He'd just seen half his cavalry destroy itself in a deadfall pit. And the other half had been beaten off by three boys. Three <em>thieves</em>! Now his archers and foot soldiers were falling like birds in a duck-hunt. The screams and cries of wounded men echoed over the slaughterfield.</p>
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<p>"They're getting away, damn you!" he roared. "Get after them. Bring them to me, heads or no heads!"</p>
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<p>Out in the middle of the armed foot, that monster and the four-armed freak were running amok.</p>
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<p>A <em>juggler</em>! Dermott fumed. A wandering <em>juggler</em>. And he was wading through armed men as if he was an immortal.</p>
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<p>Dermott jumped off the knoll and strode towards what was left of the cavalry who were milling in disarray,</p>
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<p>"Get back there and bring them to me!" He turned to his bugler. "There's a company not yet here. Call them in."</p>
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<p>Without pause, Dermott lashed his whip and snared one horseman. He dragged him from the saddle and threw him to the ground. If he'd had time, he'd have sliced the coward in two. But far out he could see the thieves hurrying along the pale road. He wheeled his mount and thundered off in hot pursuit.</p>
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<p>On the hill, Finn and Fennel watched this new development.</p>
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<p>This was expected. They'd held back while Hedda and Score and the rest of the troupe took the battle to the enemy. They'd watched in awe as Hedda savaged her way through them, moving like quicksilver, faster than the eye could follow.</p>
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<p>But it was Natterjack and Thin Doolan and the acrobatic twins who put on a real show.</p>
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<p>Tig and Tag used their long staves to vault over the heads of the infantry, catching each other in mid-flight and performing feats of such delicate balance that not a blade nor an arrow caught them. </p>
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<p>Natterjack and Thin Doolan stood close together. The squat trouper still wore the curious turtle-shell helmet and it was clear why when he approached the line. A man ran out and slammed Natterjack with a broad axe, right on the crown.</p>
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<p>The result was so hilarious that Fennel laughed aloud.</p>
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<p>Natterjack collapsed like a deflated bladder, absorbing the heavy blow. Then he seemed to haul a massive breath and swell back to his former shape, swung a heavy mallet and crowned his opponent in return. The man went down like a felled ox.</p>
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<p>Thin Doolan didn't move fast. He wasn't armoured and only carried a light sword. A big soldier ran forward, swinging widely. Doolan sucked in his breath, turned sideways, and vanished almost completely. The sword came down, found nothing to slice. Doolan raised his blade and jabbed the man in the eye, then moved on to the next.</p>
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<p>Another soldier came dashing in. Natterjack opened his wide mouth and the sword speared inside. Natterjack closed it with a loud snap. His bulging eyes blinked and he made a gruesome, gulping sound. The man staggered off, clutching at the bleeding stump of his wrist.</p>
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<p>On the hill, the giants saw Dermott rally a brigade of men and pull them away from the fighting. They swung from east to south, haring after the four small figures.</p>
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<p>"Now," Finn said. He hefted a boulder up to shoulder height, braced his pillar-like legs and shot-putted the stone across the battlefield. It hit the frozen ground with an almighty thud, bounced and smashed into the brigade. Beside him, Fennel set down one of the spruce trunks, gave it a shove and sent it rolling like a juggernaut down the slope, letting its spikes mow down the archers who were trying to get out of the way of Finn's big bouncing stone.</p>
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<p>The brigade ran for their lives, while Dermott ranted and raved in blind fury.</p>
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<p>"They're getting away!" he roared. "Damn your eyes, you cowards. I will have your heads for this."</p>
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<p>His men were too busy avoiding the lethal avalanche which Finn and Fennel sent their way to care much about their heads for the moment. They fled.</p>
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<p>And along the white road, the four fugitives gained a clear distance.</p>
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<p> </p>
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